Rechargeable batteries are presently used to provide power to a wide variety of portable electronic devices, including laptop computers, tablet computers, smartphones, and digital music players. Jelly-roll battery designs, also referred to herein as wound battery designs, are used in several such battery designs. Jelly-roll battery cells include alternating anode and cathode layers covered with active material with intervening separator layers. These layers are then wound into a “jelly-roll” configuration.
Jelly-roll battery cells typically include conductive tabs that are coupled to the anodes and cathodes and extend beyond the outer perimeter of the battery cells to provide power to circuitry within the portable electronic device. Unfortunately, connections to these conductive tabs add to the overall profile of a battery cell, which results in wasted space (e.g., space not used by the energy-producing portions of the battery), and thereby decreases the effective energy density of the battery cell.
Hence, what is needed is a jelly-roll battery design that reduces the wasted space caused by connections to conductive tabs that provide power to external circuitry.